New materials developed by researchers can wrap light around an object, making it invisible, CBS News reports. University of California at Berkeley scientists are using materials that blend Teflon, fiber or ceramic composite with metal, and are “designed to bend visible light in a way that ordinary materials don’t,” according to the story.

Last year, physicists performed a sort of teleportation, sending data nearly 90 miles across the South Pacific using photons and the principle of “quantum entanglement,” according to The Independent.

“We really wanted to show that this can be done in the real world and our dream is to go into space and try it there. In principle, such experiments may in future be used for teleporting information between places, but our system is not capable of transporting matter,” said Dr. Robert Ursin of the University of Vienna, one of the physicists involved.

According to NetworkWorld, “Star Trek” has inspired some inventors who are bringing the show’s gadgets to life. For example, Vocera has developed a hands-free, voice-activated communicator that operates within a Wi-Fi network. Meanwhile, Ionatron has made the equivalent of phaser guns “that produce ‘man-made lightning’ to disable people or vehicles that threaten our security.”